Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Unhappy Serger

Well, what a letdown. I had my new serger out of the box and had even learned to thread it in anticipation of the class last night. I wasn't sure what I would learn, but whatever it was would be more than I knew at that point. There were 6 of us. Three of them seemed to know the teacher very well (sometimes a bad sign). One was a lady in a wheelchair; she already knew how to serge but seemed a little disorganized and chatty. The girl by me had a serger just like mine and had been using it 3 months already. Sweet girl but got off to a bad start with the teacher for ALREADY HAVING SOMETHING DONE. Forget it - take it out - don't get ahead.

The first hour - yes, hour - was spent showing us how to thread the machine. The people at our table knew how to thread ours but got more confused as we went along. Mine looked like a spider web at one point. The people at the other table seemed to take up a lot of time, but they were having fun. I don't think I was having fun at that point, but it would get worse.

Then when we got ready to sew, I had a row of stitches, but they were ugly, not like the girl's next to me. No problem, says the teacher, we'll just adjust the tension. She adjusted the tension on one knob, adjusted it again, adjusted it on about 6 more knobs and then just declared, "I can't help you." Wow. Failure in my first serger class. She said it must be a "bad" machine and that I could try to get a replacement. Since I bought it at Hancock's and we were in the back room of Hancock's, I asked her if she would vouch for the fact that it was a "bad" machine. So she did, and I got a promise of a replacement if I would bring in the receipt. So the next hour was spent with her showing us how things were supposed to NOT look. They all looked like my sample. I think my table partner wished she had not bothered to show up.

At the end of the class, the teacher said, "Will all of you be back Monday for the Creative Class, Part 1" ($35). Four of them yelled YES. The teacher at our table said, "Becky?" I said I didn't think I could be creative until I learned to sew a straight stitch. She pooh-poohed that. I told her I would let her know. The girl at my table said she might not could get a babysitter.

I came home and took all the threads out and rethreaded it, and it was a much nicer stitch but still not the way it was supposed to be. I'm worried now about it being "bad" so I'm going to replace it. So much trouble.

SOOO The sunrise was beautiful this morning - or presunrise or something. Darby and I went out for a walk, and the first half of the walk, I could see the full moon - pretty - and then when I turned left and left again, I could enjoy the pink and gray and silver clouds. This is a great time to walk before the traffic starts. It was a little nippy but very pleasant. Last weekend must have been decreed crepe murder weekend from the looks of the piles of limbs in front of the houses. I even caught one young guy redhanded. He was NOT enjoying himself. I imagine his wife or mother sent him out to do it before breakfast, and he was not finding it easy going.

About Me

Lots of things have changed since I started writing my thoughts here. Eight years have passed, and we're no longer in Alabama but have become the trailing parents/grandparents and living near our children in Snoqualmie, WA. We love everything about it so far. We spend a lot of time with the granddaughters, and in our spare time we read and walk and explore the area. The only gardening is taking care of our little balcony. I still love all sorts of needlework, mainly quilting and sewing for the girls. There is no focus for this blog except for writing down things that happen to us, usually mundane things if we're lucky, and preserving the memories we're making right now for the girls.